EUROPE-MIGRANTS/PALERMO ARRIVAL Swedish ship carrying over 500 migrants and 51 corpses arrives in Palermo

Record ID: 142365

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/PALERMO ARRIVAL Swedish ship carrying over 500 migrants and 51 corpses arrives in Palermo
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: PALERMO, ITALY (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) SWEDISH COASTGUARD VESSEL POSEIDON AT PORT WOMEN AND CHILDREN MIGRANTS WAVING FROM SHIP YOUNG BOY WAVING RED CROSS STAFF WITH STRETCHERS WAITING INFRONT OF SHIP (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) MAYOR OF PALERMO ORLANDO LEOLUCA SAYING: "The bodies, each of the 51 bodies, are arriving at the port of Palermo, but there are thousands and thousands of dead who are in the Mediterranean whose bodies will never be found and none is paying attention." POSEIDON AT PORT WITH EMERGENCY STAFF PORT SIDE
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABLEORL74H29FW3RAR32B6Y6CD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Swedish coastguard vessel Poseidon arrived at Palermo port on Thursday evening (August 27) carrying the bodies of 51 migrants who were found dead in the hold of a boat, believed to have been asphixiated by petrol fumes.
    Rescuers from Poseidon, mobilised under the European Union's rescue mission Triton, found the corpses as they were carrying out a rescue operation. Some 439 migrants were rescued from the same boat, those who had been travelling on deck.
    In total the Poseidon is carrying some 571 migrants all of whom will disembark at the port.
    "The bodies, each of the 51 bodies, are arriving at the port of Palermo, but there are thousands and thousands of dead who are in the Mediterranean whose bodies will never be found and none is paying attention" said Palermo Mayor Orlando Leoluca as he waited for the disembarkation.
    Tens of thousands of people, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, have put to sea this year in the hope of reaching Europe, often dangerously packed into small vessels that were never designed to cross the Mediterranean.
    The deaths have added to a toll already thought to have exceeded 2,300 so far this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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